"Cooking." Valeria repeated the words before picking her ear, seemingly contemplating something. She, Kurapika, and Gon had already reunited with Leorio and Killua after their "scuffle" with Hisoka. The clown beamed at her, waving, to which she angrily yet fearfully flipped him off. After her string of surprisingly diverse vocabulary of curses, the examiner introduced the second exam. Dazed due to the confusion of whether or not she heard the examiner right, she turned her head towards her fellow examinees. "Did I hear that right?"

"Crap! I haven't cooked before!" Leorio panicked and faced the other boys, who all shook their head, proving that they also did not know how to cook. Kurapika glanced at Valeria, studying her face briefly before asking whether or not she knew how to cook. Valeria did display confusion but not with furrowed brows. It was more of a pleasantly surprised expression. She had entered the exam expecting fully physical strength and primitive survival instincts to be the main components of the exam. But again, learning how to scratch up food from the middle of an unknown territory would be essential. Before the girl could respond, she was cut off by Leorio.

"Kurapika, you don't need to have any expectations from her. How many times has she demonstrated tyranny through sheer strength? Too many times. You can't expect her to do anything resembling a decent human being. She's not a normal girl-she's a gorilla and gorillas don't cook!"

Unamused, Valeria "lightly" patted his left cheek, sending the man flying to the right and having a swollen, symmetrical mess of a face. She gave him an impassive smile and knelt down in front of him, grabbing the tree behind him and cornering him. "I've warned you many times, don't call me gorilla. Ye think that just because I'm slightly more tolerant towards you, Kurapika, Gon, and Killua that I won't actually knock out some teeth? Also, for your information, cooking is in the subcategory of researching plants. Of course I can cook dipshit."

She stood up, dusted her hands after easily clawing out a hole from the tree. Her facial expression returned to her neutral dead fish-eyed look, which also appeared to be somewhat refreshed, and responded to Kurapika."I'm fine with cooking up plants, making spices and sauces with them. Cooking animals is a completely different thing though. I usually just tie them up by the legs and hang them over a fire to roast them."

A caveman? All four boys shared the same immediate thought. Killua cleared his throat and redirected all of their attention back towards the examiner, preventing Gon or Leorio to actually say anything that could rile her up.

"My menu is whole-roasted pig. It's my favourite. As long as the pig resides in the forest, any type will do. Now, let the second exam start!" Buhara finished the instructions. Valeria sighed in relief, glad that their first time was simply roasting a boar. She and the boy began to run off to the forest, aware of the competition to find the boars first. While it was exciting, to finally have the exam start, as none of them perceived their marathon as a true trial but rather an elimination round, none of them expected Valeria to be excited. If one could perceive her current expression as excitement. Her aura, as a spiritualist would say, had become dark and murky and spiked around her. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes had a psychopathic glint. The kind that usually appeared on a murderer's face. She was excited to finally see the plants up close and to find new species she hasn't seen before. The craving she had, found in all of Lavine's kin who desired battles of strength, had been redirected to exploring the environments around her. She began to chuckle to herself darkly. The group of friends deduced it was because Valeria didn't know how to smile properly, after many unusual encounters with her.

"Valeria, stop. You look like a perverted creep." Killua shuddered in disgust before sticking his tongue out, as if he was going to retch. Immediately, Leorio shook his head while waving his hand, trying to stop the boy from telling her what to do. He had learned that Valeria didn't take criticism well and was preventing another oblivious person from falling victim to her threats. However, Valeria simply patted Killua's head. Killua could only see partially of her face and that was the gentle smile on her lips. She held a thumbs up and Killua's cheeks flushed pink from the sibling-like affection that he didn't know existed in Valeria, only to be frozen stiff with horror the moment he saw Valeria's entire face. She was grinning, but the air around her was filled with bloodlust and it was oozing out uncontrollably. She then ran ahead of the group and her shouting could be heard by the group: "I'm gonna snatch that license and become a millionaire and create my harem away from you Lavine bastards!"

"..."

"That's going to be the most excited Valeria I will ever see!" Kurapika burst out laughing.

"That's going to be the most TRAUMATIZING thing I have ever seen." KIllua shuddered, with a tear hanging in the corner of his left eye. He rubbed his arms for comfort, but there was no luck.

Valeria was ecstatic for such a simple task but also for another reason. She hadn't got the chance to fully embrace the plants and with this unforeseen opportunity, she inhaled deeply to calm herself down. Once she returned to her bored and unamused expression with a slightly pleasant grin, she looked around. This was the type of exam she likes. Green everywhere, plants everywhere- paradise! However the smile dropped as her peace was disturbed by The Great Stamp. The boars turned their attention to the lone girl who was trying to reach nirvana by breathing in the weed- ahem, the plants aroma. Immediately transitioning to a hostile mode, the boars hoofed the ground before attempting to headbutt her. Valeria raised a hand, stopping the pig directly in front of her. "This is why I like plant's better than animals. They can never go into a rebellious phase and betray you. Or senselessly attack you in this case." She flicked the pig in the forehead. Instant KO.

The other boars paused nervously as she released a bloodthirsty aura before they circled around her, leaving a space, or more specifically, a path for her to walk through. The Great Stamp recognized her as their queen. Valeria lightly slung the dead pig's body off her shoulder while she began to chew gum. She came face to face with one of the examinees who jumped out and was planning on hitting a pig. He looked baffled to see a petite girl, blowing a bubble with her gum and having a pig larger than her easily tossed over her shoulders like a sack of rice.
Valeria slapped him on the face, causing him to fly into another pig, who got up and carried it's prey away. "Outta the way, noob." The pigs stopped once more and stared at Valeria. One of the pigs went under Valeria, voluntarily carrying her and now, she has gotten herself free transportation. The image was totally bizarre and even her new friends, knowing that unusual things happen around her, were taken aback with shock. A stampede of ferocious boars, with one carrying a petite girl, who was sitting cross legged with gum in her mouth, carrying another boar on her shoulder.

"What the hell is she doing?!" Leorio shouted. "We're struggling to kill and evade the pigs only to see the wild gorilla to be worshipped."

Valeria jumped off and fist bumped Gon and Killua, even though the kids were unsure of why they instinctively fist bumped her.

"How did you manage to kill them?" Killua asked.

"Flicking them in the forehead." Valeria shrugged. Killua opened his mouth and closed it again. He glanced at Leorio's not-yet-healed face and decided the reason was because she's Valeria. She had brute strength and is the gorilla of the jungle.

"Okay." He nodded and looked to the side. Now he had to find a different way because obviously whatever worked for her won't work form him-

"I did it! You were right, Valeria! Their forehead is their weakness!" Gon smiled brightly Valeria patted his head in approval. The group stared at him. So their forehead was weak regardless how strong the attacker was? Killua rubbed his temple, his miscalculation throwing him off.

"Good. You've become strong. Now we have to throw you off the cliff and you have to survive for a month by yourself in the wild and-" Valeria spoke out like a wise old sage but was cut off by Leorio.

"NO! Stop! You can't do that!" Leorio shouted while swatting his suitcase at a nearby pig.

Valeria blinked and cocked her head. "Ah. Foreigners don't-"

"No Valeria, this is probably only something your clan or family does. Don't brush it off as a foreigner thing." Kurapika sighed before he proceeded to attack one of the boars, which were being hunted simultaneously. They probably sensed that Valeria wasn't going to help and thus some of them began to scatter.

"Is that so?" Valeria frowned, thinking hard about it while having an existential crisis.

"What's with your messed up family?" Leorio's eyes twitched. Valeria simply shrugged as she now congratulated Killua and Kurapika on their capture of dead pigs. She quickly glanced at Leorio and looked away with a condescending smirk before picking her nose. Irritated and angered, Leorio raised his voice.

"Just say what you want to say, dammit!" Leorio demanded.

"Nothing! It's just that some of us are waiting for a certain someone to actually catch something so we can go back and roast them. Of course, let's pray that you can catch a bug or something since the boars might be out of your league." Valeria flung her booger in a direction and seconds later, a small part of the tree had a hole and smoke was coming out of it. Valeria cursed and muttered something that was supposed to be a "missed". Paling in horror, Leorio resumed his attempts of defeating the monster and was finally successful after a while. Valeria began to start a fire and roasted her pig while the others did the same. Kurapika crouched down next to her, along with Killua. When they haven't said anything she asked: "What do you want?"

"How did you become strong?" They both asked at the same time. It seemed natural that these two characters would want to know the key to power and strength. Gon looked up, and scooted closer to them, wanting to also listen in. Valeria blinked and merely replied: "I got thrown off a cliff, thrown onto an island of cannibals, thrown into a fight-to-death arena, thrown into the mountains for a month, thrown into the ocean, thrown into-" She was stopped by Kurapika and Killua as they raised their hands.

"Your dad...doesn't seem to have a parental instinct." Kurapika sweatdropped.

"Why? Are your parents different?" Valeria asked both of them merely out of curiosity.

"Different..you ask. My parents doted on me, in fact everyone cared about everyone's well-being and looked out for one another. If I was injured, my parents would be heartbroken." Kurapika hummed sadly.

"My parents dote on me for sure because I'm the favourite," Killua began. "But they make me go through harsh training but they still spoil me."

"Dote? You mean throwing you off into-"

"No!" Both boys interrupted before struggling to find an explanation. Killua shook his head because his family was unusual as well and Gon...well he also has no say in father parenting. So Kurapika tried to explain.

"It's like, they take care of you carefully and they will do everything they can to protect you. If they dote on you, it's like you're the most important thing to them and they treat you in a manner that reflects that."

Valeria tilted her head. But a small smile crawled onto her face, despite having that lazy glint in her eyes like she always does. In fact, perhaps it's because of the lazy glint in her eyes, it made her smile seem a bit softer. "That doesn't seem like a bad thing at all."

Kurapika and Killua looked shocked to see the unfamiliar but soft on the eyes look that Valeria never managed to do. Gon then leapt from behind her back and wrapped his arms around her. "You don't have to have blood relations to be in a treasured relationship with others. Look, right now you have us and we won't throw you off a cliff, onto an island of cannibals, into a fight-to-death arena, into the mountains for a month, into the ocean, into-" Killua clamped his hand over the other boy's mouth and sighed. Valeria stared at the roasted pork, watching the cinders fly out before returning to her dead attitude and standing up. She single handedly slung the now roasted pig on her back. The group began to run back to the location of the second exam and presented their pigs. When the examiner finished eating all 71 of the pigs, to Kurapika's horror, he announced that 71 of the contestants had passed.

"Amazing…" Killua and Gon mused in awe at the man's ability to easily swallow all of the food provided. Menchi sighed, shaking her head at his indiscriminately judgement before grinning and crossing her arms. "I'm not like Buhara...I am really strict. So for the second half of the second exam, my menu will be sushi!"

Puzzled, Valeria and her group of friends looked at each other with puzzlement. She beat them to an anxious question they shared. "What the fuck is sushi?"

They all looked at the area where they were supposed to cook. Valeria lifted up the wooden box and peered inside. "Rice?" Valeria looked utterly confused. She saw the weapons beside her and sighed. She had to look for ingredients? That's a pain. Valeria walked up to Leorio and Kurapika to see if the two teens had any idea what a "sushi" was.

"...There is a dish where you add vinegar and spices to the rice and then you add fresh fish meat. I think." Kurapika whispered to the two.

"Fish?! Do you realize we're in a forest?!" Leorio shouted

Kurapika threw his spoon at Leorio and Valeria kneed him in the stomach.

"Lower your goddamn voice!" They both shouted. However, it was too late, everyone ran out to the lake for the fish. Valeria, Leorio and Kurapika began to run too for God's sake.

"Dammit, can't believe those cheaters were eavesdropping!" Leorio cursed.

"You're absolutely ridiculous." Valeria and Kurapika shared an irritated look and followed him. When they approached a lake, everyone immediately rushed to find a spot at the side of a lake. Valeria took off her white cardigan, shoes and bag before stretching. Without fully warming up nor stretching, it was dangerous to go into the water. Especially if you cramp up and end up drowning.

"You're going swimming?" Kurapika chuckled. As expected from the girl who always acts like she was raised in a jungle. Valeria nodded and jumped into the water. She submerged her head underwater and swivelled around, trying to find fish. The bigger the fish, the more meat right? Then she'll just snab the fattest fish in the area without putting in effort to chase it. She swam swiftly to the largest fish, which she recognized that it was noticeably ugly. But it wasn't flamboyant nor colourful. She hesitated for a moment then snatched it immediately before resurfacing. She picked her ear with her free pinky and walked back to where Kurapika and Leorio were. She would think that the Gourmet Hunters won't suffer from a little bit of wildfish poison. Besides, she is having no problem holding it. Huh? Didn't Killua have resistance to poison, so maybe he had knowledge of different poison's sources. She slipped into her flats and tied her cardigan around her waist and confronted the assassin, asking him about it. He muttered that he didn't know nor care but after the constant nagging, he ended up stabbing through the fish with his sharp nail and licked the blood that flowed out. He then said there was no poison before spitting out the raw taste of fish and she slapped him on the head in thanks.

"I'm going back first." She waved at the two with dripping hands, princess carrying the flabby, grotesque looking fish. The fish was noticeably large, two thirds the size of Valeria herself even if the girl is considered small in human proportions. She walked away and the two stared at the retreating, soaked figure.

"There's no way she's a girl." Leorio muttered.

As Valeria waddled back to the second exam site, she looked around for any plants that may provide good flavour to the "sushi". She bent down and examined a chartreuse green plant with a dark and leafy tip. Shifting her grip of the fish to one hand, she picked it up with the other hand and bit a small part of the leaf. "Not bad. Spicy and a little bit of salty sweet taste like the Choy Sauce at home."

She plucked several of the plants and stuffed it into the fish's mouth and walked back, ruffling her wet hair. She placed the fish down and went back to the forest to hunt for more ingredients. She climbed trees and hung upside down, while biting on leaves to test the taste of the plants. There was an orange ground plant that was so small, it would barely bring forth the texture of it. But the flavour was mild but would also go well with the fish, rice, vinegar, and the green plant. She wandered a bit more before nodding in satisfaction with her exploration. She rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands and the ingredients before holding the knives upright. She then proceeded to cut and attack the poor fish. Blood splattered across her face and her surrounding examinees stopped cooking and stared at her in horror, in fear. They were obviously scared by this poor performance of cooking. Even Menchi looked like she was going to lose her appetite. Valeria then proceeded to grind the plant she found and this was approximately when Leorio and Kurapika returned. Both of them stared at her in shock as she waved at them, with a bloody knife in her bloody hands and a dead look on her bloody face. "Yo." She replied.

Shaking, Kurapika and Leorio approached her while Kurapika handed her his extra towel, which no one knows why he has it. Valeria nods in thanks and wipes her face with it. She checked her rice, which was being steamed, before pounding it together. Everyone continued to cook and Valeria stuffed the fish in the rice along with the grinned plant. She wrapped it up and sprinkled the plant over it. She cutted it in small slices, not because she knew what sushi looked like, but because she was hungry and she wanted to taste test a slice. Somewhat satisfied with what she made she placed it on the plate and gave it to Menchi as the final contestant. Menchi stared at it then at the previous bloody girl. She shivered and shakingly lifted a piece and ate it. Immediately brightening up, Mench smiled. "The taste is excellent! Far better than all of those from before. I guess the secret to the taste is this mystery sprinkled object." Then she frowned. "But you still failed."

Valeria blinked. "Huh?"

"They way you cook is too grotesque, the appearance is really sloppy, the stuffing keeps sliding out which makes me really frustrated when I try to eat it and," Menchi spat out the rice which stilled retained its shape only to be covered in saliva and next to it, Menchi had spat. Out something sparkly white. Part of her teeth. "How the fuck did you make this? If I were an ordinary person, my entire teeth set would have been broken." She glowered.

Valeria took one of the slices, the one furthest from Menchi's saliva she chewed on it. Everyone could hear a large crunching sound in her mouth before Valeria swallowed it. She picked up the toothpick on Menchi's table and picked her teeth with it.

"Suck it up examiner. You need to taste the wild and the strong before you fight em." Valeria tossed the toothpick onto the plate. Menchi's face was really pale at first because Valeria ate the "sushi" with ease and her teeth intact. She then turned red with anger and embarrassment, yelling out loud. "Okay! I'm full! No one passes!"

Valeria sighed and muttered as she walked away from Menchi: "People these days don't know what to appreciate." As Menchi and another dissatisfied examinee argued it out, Valeria's group of friends crowded around her.

"You just made another lethal weapon." Killua and Leorio spluttered.

"What do you mean? It was perfectly edible." Valeria yawned. "Well I can't just leave without my hunter's license. Otherwise I'm going to hide for a year, lying that I got my license then take the exam next year and then go home."

The group stared at the irritated examiner before a blimp with the symbol of the Hunter association flew overhead and an old man jumped down.

"Chairman Netero…"Menchi greeted him

"Chairman?" The group repeated.

"You seemed to find their spirit of challenging the unknown and the result of complete disqualification is because of their attitude?"

"No…I apologize. I tend to lose control of myself when it comes to cooking. I'm a failure as an examiner. I will resign as an examiner so please disregard the result of this test." Menchi lowered her head.

"How about we do this? We continue the exam however, we will choose a new test in which you first demonstrate personally before we begin. How about it?" The chairman asked.

"I see, then I want boiled eggs." Menchi grinned. "Can you take us to the mountain over there?" Menchi pointed.

"Of course." The chairman grinned. The 70 examinees and the examiners all boarded the blimp to reach their destination.

"To make this clear...I'm not fond of eggs." Valeria spoke up as the group got off the blimp. She recognized those eggs as she looked down. She's read about them. She's been threatened to be thrown down there.

Gon looked at her. "I didn't think you were a picky eater."

"I'm not. But I, excuse my language, fucking hate the idea of creepy crawlies giving birth to an infinite mass of miniature versions that spread out like a black wave." Valeria peered over in disgust. She watched Menchi dive down to grab one of the eggs and carry it back up. When Menchi climbed up, Valeria asked if there was anything that was going to hatch. As soon as Menchi said no, Valeria jumped down with her friends to grab an egg. She gritted her teeth as she climbed up. "Papa is gonna pay for saying there are NESTS of spiders, waiting for someone to touch the egg."

"They're spider EAGLES….not just spiders." Gon laughed. They placed their eggs in a boiled pot, waiting to taste it. As soon as it was done, Valeria bit into it then swallowed it whole. "Not bad." She managed to say with a full mouth. She was being too modest, as she was craving more. She was starving. However, all of her thoughts on food vanished the moment Killua approached her with a cat face.

"So you don't like clusters of bugs?"

"Fuck." Valeria decided to, instead of avoiding him, she'll blackmail him. She grabbed Killua by the collar with a desperate, insane look in her usual dead fish eyes and muttered: "If you bring a nest near me, you're going to be flattened along with it."

She lets go and returns to her neutral look. She puts on her cardigan because she was almost completely dry and spat on the floor. Finally, she shuts up the white haired kid.